Luminaria spotlight: Guillermina Zabala

Updated 6:21 pm, Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Guillermina Zabala filmed subjects spelling out a word that represents them  in this case "hope"  and added light. Her work will be shown during Luminaria. BOB OWEN / EXPRESS-NEWS

Guillermina Zabala filmed subjects spelling out a word that represents them  in this case "hope"  and added light. Her work will be shown during Luminaria. BOB OWEN / EXPRESS-NEWS

Luminaria spotlight: Guillermina Zabala

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At first, Guillermina Zabala planned to create video portraits of people from all sorts of professions.

“Then I started realizing a lot of people I invited are all artists,” she said. “Then, I'm thinking, ‘It's Luminaria; it's mostly artists.' And we are definitely working people.”

Zabala, the media arts director at SAY Sí, filmed her subjects — including musicians Henry Brun and Azul and visual artists Vincent Valdez and Andy Benavides — writing a word in the air that represents them. Then she added light: “It's going to look like light writing,” she said. “It's kind of cool.

“The idea behind it has to do with language and identity,” said Zabala, 40. “Because I'm bilingual and I'm originally from Argentina — I've been in this country for 20 years now — language is an important thing for me.”

The images will be projected onto a clear curtain hung from columns in the fountain at the back of the park. The faces will be beamed through the water, adding another visual element to the piece. Her friend Martin Rodriguez will help her install it; she's hoping he'll also spell her a bit so that she can walk around and see other artists' work.

This is her third time as a Luminaria participant. She's a big fan of the event.